Dolphins in our world

Did you know that a dolphin is not a fish! It is actually a mammal and closely related to us!

In this issue we learn more about dolphins, other cetaceans and marine life in our world and we find out some more about what they are and where we might see them around Wales. We consider potential dangers facing dolphins and other sea life and the rights and wrongs of keeping such beautiful wild creatures in captivity.

Not many people are aware that a dolphin is a very intelligent creature, it is said that the brain of a bottlenose dolphin, as seen around the coast of Wales, is larger and heavier than the human brain! Unlike many marine species they are able to recognise themselves in a mirror, which shows that they have self awareness!

Whilst they were for many centuries considered to be one of the fish family, we now realise that they are actually mammals even though they live in the sea. There are over 40 different species, but the one you will be most likely to see here is the bottlenose dolphin. All dolphins, porpoises and Orcas (also called the Killer Whale) are part of the group of animals called cetaceans (pronounced “set-ay-sians”). They are also very clever because they use sound – called echolocation to hunt and to understand their surroundings.

They are very agile and can jump and leap and it is said that they can dive down up to sixty metres below the surface; think of it, that’s as deep as the height of ten houses. They can also leap out of the water (this is called breaching) and they can swim very quickly.

In Wales they can often be seen in Cardigan Bay and often swim alongside boats and ships like the ferries that sail across to Ireland.

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Did you know there are dolphins on the Welsh coast?

If you have patience and determination you can spot dolphins in many places around the coast of Wales, particularly in the west of the country. It is also possible to see them if you travel on a ferry across the Irish Sea as sometimes, they swim alongside boats and ships. Dolphins are mammals like us and are said to incredibly intelligent. Some writers suggest that there has been a strange bond between humans and dolphins for thousands of years.

There are two main types of small cetacean around Wales; the bottlenose dolphin, and the harbour porpoise. Bottlenose dolphins are often seen in family groups which are called ‘pods’, and will leap and play in the water and are appear to be friendly creatures!

Bottlenose dolphins have pale stomachs with a darker grey colour on their upper part. Trying to spot a pod or a dolphin needs plenty of time, and a pair of binoculars is also useful. Quite often all you will see is a fin or group of fins breaking the surface, but watch carefully and you may see them break the surface of the water or even ‘leap’ which is when they jump completely out of the water. You may hear this referred to as ‘breaching’ but normally this term is used for the larger cetaceans like whales. They will follow alongside shipping leaping and playing in the ‘wake’ from the prow of the vessel.

Porpoises however are only seen in small groups and are normally less sociable. These creatures are harder to spot. They just show a dorsal fin and a blow of air when they break the surface. Porpoises are dark on their backs with lighter sides and underneath.

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Bottlenose dolphin swimming in Sandwich Bay off the coast of Namibia.

Sofia is hoping to make an “awesomeness” graphic for her blog. She has found lotos of interesting facts about dolphins.

Did you know that …

Dolphins are streamlined and are super fast at swimming, propelling themselves with their powerful tail fins called flukes.
They have smooth skin which helps reduce their ‘drag’ and ‘friction’ through the water. They can swim at well over 20 miles per hour!
Because of their streamlined shape and with the use of their powerful tail flukes they can jump out of the sea as high as a two storey house!
Dolphins can let half of their brain sleep at any time whilst the other half stays awake so they are aware of their environment and any predators.
Dolphins breathe through their ‘blow hole’ as they are mammals just like us!
Dolphins are social animals and can be found in pods. They get together in pods to hunt for food to make a super pod or herd at up to two thousand dolphins in warmer waters!
They can ‘speak’ to each other using squeaks, clicks and whistles and can even let other dolphins know when one of the pod is in danger or if there are predators lurking.
Dolphins use their ability to make sounds to help them with “echo location” (which is very similar to sonar that is used by submarines) when hunting, they let out up to a thousand “clicks” a second and the echo comes back letting them know where their prey is, how fast it is moving and how large it is! They can also use this echolocation to help them “see” where they are going; even in the dark!
An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin has between 80 and 100 cone-shaped teeth which they use for trapping their prey. Dolphins swallow their food whole without chewing it!

They are just AWESOME creatures!

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Conversation

sofia@calon.cymru

13/10/2020

Dolphinarium!

Hello my friend!

We had a great time up in Caernarfon following the trail of my favourite scientist Marconi. We went to all sorts of places! Did you know that Anglesey is called “Ynys Mon the mother of Wales!” I must discover more of the reason for that!

Well I just have to tell you that since mum and I saw these amazing dolphins playing under the Menai Bridge, I have been trying to find somewhere spot some dolphins! It was unusual to see dolphins here as the water is supposedly too shallow for them!

Sadly it would seem that whilst you still see them in dolphin shows in the United States and also in some places in Europe, you can’t swim with or even see dolphins in captivity in Wales or anywhere in the UK.

Do you think that this is fair – why can Americans have such fun and not us here in Wales?!

Tadcu told me that he remembers seeing dolphins way back in 1972 in what was called the Coney Beach Dolphinarium at Porthcawl; wow, that’s almost half a century ago, they used to have coach trips down to Porthcawl from the valleys where he lived when he was younger.

He said they the dolphins were in a concrete building and they didn’t appear to be happy in there in his “humble opinion”. There was also another dolphinarium closer to you Sara, in Rhyl at the time, Tadcu remembers the names of the dolphins there in Rhyl; one was called “Flipper” and the other one was “Blodwyn”!

In one way though it doesn’t seem fair that we can’t see and swim with dolphins yet they still can in other countries. What do you think Sara? Surely the animals must have been looked after and kept well fed?

There was a small dolphinarium at Gwrych Castle too that had a rather small plastic lined tank (Tadcu said it leaked), it was only open for two years!

As you can see, I am now on a mission to find out all I can about these super cetaceans (my new buzz word)!

Chat soon.

Sofi xx

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Map of North West Wales showing Ynys Mon (Anglesey) and Brittania and Menai Bridges

Tŷ Ni

25/09/2020

Sara

Do you know Sara, whenever I get an interest in a particular something I want to find out all about it! Tadcu tells me that I am “like a dog with a bone”; I think he means that once I am interested in something, I don’t give up until I am satisfied that I have discovered as much as I can about it! My favourite teacher told me once that I have an “enquiring mind”!

Well Sara, not long ago I was staying on the North Wales coast in the Celtic Royal Hotel in Caernarfon on the trail of Marconi, my favourite inventor; I think I told you about him before. Mum took me over the Menai Bridge to the island of Anglesey (Môn Mam Cymru - Anglesey the Mother of Wales my teacher called it) but just before we crossed we spotted a group of dolphins in the distance playing below us in the the Menai Straits; well Sarah it was just WOW!.

“One day when I am older”, I told mum as I looked at them. “I would love to swim with dolphins”.

Mum told me that not long ago there were captive dolphins in a sea life centre in Porthcawl, up in Rhyl and in other aquaria but now, she said, thankfully none are kept in captivity anywhere in Britain. However there still are many “Dolphinariums” in the United States, in China and in many other countries across the world. It is still possible, for example, to swim with dolphins in the Discovery Cove Aquarium centre in Florida – that sounds brilliant!

That was it; even though I can’t swim with dolphins in Wales or in Britain, I want to find out all that I can to discover all that I can about such awesome creatures! I think Sara, it's my sense of awe and wonder kicking in again – so watch out!

I will update you soon by email so speak soon,

Sofia

News article

Dolphins spotted in the Menai Straits!

Daily Bugle

19th August 2020

There were around 150 spectators gathered on the St George’s pier in Menai Bridge on Thursday morning who could not believe what they were watching.

Some had to look twice when they saw such a rare sight, three dolphins were putting on a performance for those watching. Some of the watchers said that they actually had tears well up in their eyes watching these wonderful animals which are not normally seen in the shallow waters here.

Common dolphins have been seen in the Menai Straits on occasion, but seeing bottlenose dolphins was something special one of the onlookers said.

Bottlenose dolphins give rare display in Menai Strait

At 9 a.m. on Thursday morning the dolphins were first spotted by passengers on a rigid inflatable boat that was on an adventure tour through the fast flowing Straits. These passengers were amazed and sent text messages and video to their friends to come and look, and so the number of spectators on the shore began to increase as more people arrived to see such an unusual sight.

There were different opinions given as to why the dolphins had decided to swim and play in this spot. Some believe it is because the bottlenose dolphin’s diet consists of fish such as mackerel and that shoals of mackerel had been blown off course and into the Straits. Others suggested that the dolphins were there in order to take shelter from the storms that had been battering the coastline of Wales over the past few weeks.

Whatever the reason these bottlenose dolphins gave those watching and filming a wonderful experience of seeing these marine mammals at close quarters.

Photo credit: Rib Ride

Blog

Sofia’s Blog – My latest craze – Dolphins!

16/05/2020

Well blog readers, its Sofia here again! This is my latest blog to let you know what I have been up to – and what I am currently learning about! It all started when mum and I saw some dolphins in the Menai Strait – and I said that one day I would love to go dolphin spotting, and when I am older I would like to actually swim with them too!

For this reason I am putting down some of what I have learned and would ask if you could for you to let me have any further facts that you know of. I wonder has anyone out there actually been dolphin spotting and could tell me a good place to drive to so that I can go out on a boat to actually be close to dolphins. Also does anyone know anywhere that you can swim with dolphins?

Dolphins normally live in groups that are called pods or schools and each can have as many as twenty individuals.
Male dolphins are called ‘bulls’ and female dolphins are called ‘cows’. The dolphin young are referred to as ‘calves’ and the females give birth to them live, just like the ewes on my uncle’s farm.
The type of dolphin you are most likely to spot of the coast of Wales is called the bottlenose or bottlenose dolphin. If you are lucky you might also see a harbour porpoise, a basking shark or even a sunfish. In Pembrokeshire and in other places you are quite likely to spot Atlantic Grey Seals which look after their pups on secluded beaches below the cliffs there.
Dolphins are meat eaters (carnivores). The amount of fish that they eat depends on the types of fish that they can find. They eat squid, mackerel and herring amongst other species as well as shrimp and other similar marine creatures.
Tadcu told me that used to go out on a fishing boat catching mackerel when he was younger and was holiday in Saundersfoot – not sure that I believe that as I am sure he would have been sea sick as soon as he left the harbour!
The Killer Whale which is also called an ‘Orca’ is really a type of large dolphin It is coloured in a distinct black and white and also hunts in groups, just like pods of dolphins do.
As they are mammals like us, so they are warm blooded (unlike fish) and they also have hair it’s not that much, I wondered how they manage to keep warm especially in the cold seas around Wales in wintertime. Well it turns out that dolphins have a layer of fat called “blubber” under their skin which keeps them warm.
Dolphins use echolocation to find the exact location and distance of objects, including their food. Echolocation bounces off of the object and they can measure the distance by the amount of time it takes to bounce back or return to them.
Dolphins use a variety of sounds to communicate with each other including whistles, clicks and other noises. Scientists are still puzzled as to how this actually works.
Dolphins often get caught in fishing nets set out by fishermen and many of the species are facing potential extinction.

Well I will let all my blog readers know when I actually get to spot some dolphins. For now please keep sending in facts and figures that will help me to find out all I can about these AWESOME creations! I can’t believe they have evolved from land based animals and have managed to adapt so well to life in the sea around here!

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